


they were all red (but they gave me the blues)

by leapylion3



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Angst, Drabble, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Future Fic, Gen, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-20
Updated: 2013-10-20
Packaged: 2017-12-30 00:10:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1011703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leapylion3/pseuds/leapylion3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>...and now I'm running away, they left me a letter.</em>
</p><p>“Close your eyes,” he murmured.</p><p>“Should I be worried?”</p><p>He chuckled and shook his head. “It’s a nice surprise, I promise.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	they were all red (but they gave me the blues)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aergia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aergia/gifts).



> just a little drabble i wrote for the lovely Charlotte
> 
> please please please someone correct me if my Japanese is wrong (and if it's wrong, i sincerely apologize)
> 
> title from Brand New Shoes by She & Him

“Mako?” She jumped and whirled around, her nose almost touching Raleigh’s when she finally regained her balance. She blushed and took a step back, balancing the tray in her arms. It was one of her last meals in the Shatterdome, and after she packed up the rest of her things, she would be on her way to…well, she wasn’t entirely sure about that yet. She would be out _there_ , in the real world, with normal people instead of soldiers and mechanics and Jaeger pilots.

She would be alone.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Raleigh took her tray and dumped the remains in the garbage, ever the gentleman. “It won’t take long, I promise.” Mako nodded and dutifully followed her co-pilot, keeping her head down. They did not say anything while they walked, but they did not need to. He always knew what she was thinking; it was the ghost of the Drift.

He opened the door to his quarters and let her inside first with a smile and a sweep of his arm. His room was quaint, the furniture sparse; then again, he must have packed up most of his stuff. She did not see the pictures hanging on the corkboard, the frozen frames of Raleigh’s memories she’d experienced in the Drift. She could see Yancy’s death flash before her eyes, as clear as day, just by thinking of his name. She shivered, a sudden cold breeze brushing by.

“Sit down,” Raleigh suggested, patting the edge of his bed. She obliged, her back straight as she kept her eyes forward. Raleigh dug around in his closet for something, grunting and grumbling to himself. Mako took a small peek at him out of the corner of her eye, admiring the way his muscles moved under the thin PPDC-issued tee. He looked at her over his shoulder, grinning crookedly, as if he’d known. (Of course, he probably _had_ known what she was doing, had felt it like a gnawing at the back of his mind.)

When he found what he was looking for, he _whooped_ in triumph. He sprung to his feet and stood in front of her, hands clasped behind his back. “Close your eyes,” he murmured.

“Should I be worried?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “It’s a nice surprise, I promise.” Mako trusted him, she really did, but his statement did not calm the fluttering in her stomach.

She closed her eyes, sucked in a deep breath, and waited.

She heard the unzipping of her boots, heard the dull _thud_ as they fell to the floor. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest, but she dared not open her eyes. His hand gripped her ankle, warm even through her socks. Those were soon peeled off, too, and tossed aside. She focused on the sound of Raleigh’s breathing and tried to find comfort in it.

He slid her feet into a pair of shoes, where they fit perfectly.

“Open your eyes, Miss Mori.”

She cracked one open at a time, and gasped loudly. Bright red Mary Janes stared back up at her, the plastic shining in the room’s light. She thought of the Drift, and chasing the RABIT, when she had been frozen in fear, her memory clutching the same shoe. That seemed like a lifetime ago, another version of herself. All she could think of was Raleigh’s voice: “ _It’s just a memory, none of this is real…_ ”

“Marshall Pentecost gave these to me before…well, you know.” Raleigh cleared his throat and gazed up at her, his expression soft. “He thought it was fitting. A full circle kind of thing.” He shrugged a shoulder and offered her a tiny smile.

Mako was at a loss for words, and licked her lips as she tried to think. “I’m surprised he remembered my shoe size.” Raleigh chuckled quietly and helped her stand up. Even with her heels, he was still much taller than her, but at least she didn’t have to tilt her head all the way back to look at him.

“You look wonderful. Like a little princess.”

“Little?” she echoed, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “I’m a _little princess_ that can still kick your ass.”

Raleigh laughed at that, his face cracking into the grin she’d grown to love. He wrapped his arms loosely around her waist and pressed a light kiss to her forehead. She buried her face in his neck, inhaling his familiar scent.

“ _Arigatō, Beketto-shi_.”

She felt Raleigh’s smile against her cheek. “ _Dōitashimashite, Joshi Mori_.”   


End file.
